Saturday, March 8, 2014

Gift giving in Thailand

The big day(s) for
exchanging gifts in Thailand is New Years.
I went to a party on New Years Eve at the home of the director of
English teachers in Nongkhai Area 2. She
invited Faith and me to have dinner with her extended family. When we got there we saw the table of gifts
and asked if there was an exchange. I
think we were supposed to know it would happen, it is so normal for Thais. We quickly went to a store and bought
gifts. They were beautifully wrapped and
back we went.

Each gift/giver
receives a number. There is a list where
that is recorded. The gift gets a tag
with the number. Sutheeporn chose the
youngest child to start and he picked my number, 15 (from a bowl of folded papers,
so it’s random). I went and got my gift
and gave it to him, with pictures taken.
Then, it was my turn and I picked number 9. The person who brought that gift got it from
the table and gave it to me and the process continues until all the gifts are given. NO ONE opens his or her gift. They laugh and say thank you and enjoy each
person getting their gift.

At both schools on
Wednesday, we had another gift exchange.
Same procedure. At one school
students and teachers exchanged together, at the other it was a big lunch/party
for the staff at 4 schools and the village leaders. There, we also took breaks and danced and
sang Karaoke. It is a nice tradition
that seems to focus on being together, having fun and the gift exchange is just
a small part of it that provides excitement and a process.

Table of gifts and Sutheeporn at her house on New Year's eve

gift giving

Receiving my gift

Faith receiving her gift

Table of gifts at Ban Tha school

We need warm hats now that it is cool season (at least in the morning)